In this course, students will discuss the social impacts of
computing technology. The course will provide a brief introduction to
ethics and to the history of computing and the Internet. It will focus
on a number of areas in which computers and information technology are
having an impact on society including privacy, freedom of speech,
intellectual property, work, distribution of wealth, and the
environment. Current issues that will be discussed include electronic
voting, spyware, spam, and intellectual property issues associated
with digital content distribution. This course is intended for
freshmen and sophomore students from across the university.

Class participation: Students are expected to do reading assignments prior to class so
that they can participate fully in class discussions. The class
participation grade will take into account class attendance and
participation in class and online discussions.

A class
mailing list has been setup for announcements, questions,
and further discussion of topics discussed in class. Students will be
expected to contribute to mailing list discussions. Students should
post (non-personal) course-related questions to this mailing list
rather than sending them to the professors or TA directly. Students are
encouraged to post course-related news items to this mailing
list.

Quizzes: Five short unannounced quizzes will be given throughout the
semester. The quizzes will generally be given at the beginning of
class and cover material from the reading
assignment. Except for the first quiz of the semester, no
opportunities will be provided for making up missed quizzes. Each
student's lowest quiz grade will be dropped automatically when
computing final grades.

Class debates: Each homework assignment will include an
essay question that will also be used as the topic for a class
debate. Several students will be assigned specific roles in each
debate. Those students will present their arguments in front of the
class. Then we will have an open class discussion. Each student
will present oral arguments during one debate during the
semester. The class debate grade will be based on the oral arguments
a student presents during their assigned debate. Participation in
the open class discussion will be factored into the class
participation grade.

Homework: Seven homework assignments will be given
throughout the semester. All homework assignments must be typed and
submitted electronically in Microsoft Word or PDF
to compsoc-homework AT cups DOT cs DOT
cmu DOT edu. (Use this address only for submitting
homework, not for asking questions about the homework.) Please
place the homework number and your andrew id in the subject line
(for example, "hw1 lorrie"). Every homework submission after hw1 must include
a properly formatted bibliography that includes all works you
referred to as you prepared your homework. These works should be
cited as appropriate in the text of your answers.

All homework is due at 10:20am on the due date. We will often
discuss homework in class, so you should bring an electronic or hard
copy of your homework with you to all classes. You will
lose 10% for turning in homework after class on the day it is due. You
will lose an additional 10% for each late day after that. We reserve
the right to take off additional points or refuse to accept late
homework submitted after the answers have been discussed extensively
in class. Reasonable extensions will be granted to students with
excused absences or extenuating circumstances. Please contact us as
soon as possible to arrange for an extension.

Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. Students caught
cheating or plagiarizing will receive no credit for the assignment
on which the cheating occurred. Additional actions -- including
assigning the student a failing grade in the class or referring the
case for disciplinary action -- may be taken at the discretion of the instructors.

All students in this course will be required to complete an
individual or group project that involves writing a paper. Students
may choose whether to work individually or in a group with one other student. The project
gives students an opportunity to explore one topic in depth. Students
may select as their paper topic any social or policy issue
related to computing. The paper should discuss multiple view points
related to the issue and include an overview of how decision makers
might approach an evaluation of the various arguments and factors to
reach a policy decision.

Throughout the semester we will be discussing skills related to
writing a research paper. These research skills are shown in italics
in the course schedule. Hopefully, you have already been introduced to
most of these skills. However, if some of these skills are new for
you, please don't hesitate to ask the professors or TA for further
assistance.

Students should think about paper topics during the first half of
the semester. They should discuss their paper ideas with the
professors or TA in person or via email. By March 2, all students must
submit a one-paragraph description of their selected topic (2% of
course grade).

By April 6,
all students must submit an outline of their paper (with at least two
levels of headings) and a preliminary bibliography that includes at
least eight sources (5% of course grade).

On May 2 we will hold a
poster fair in class in which each students will present their
(hopefully almost complete) projects (8% of course grade). This will
be a good opportunity for students to give each other feedback and
to get feedback from the professors that will help improve the final
papers. The poster session will be open to all members of the CMU community.

Final papers are due Friday, May 12 at 4 pm, submitted both
electronically and in hard copy (double-sided printing preferred, but
not required). They should be 5-8 single-spaced pages. The paper
title, author name(s) and email address(es), and date should appear at
the top of the first page, followed by a short abstract. Do not
include a separate cover page. Please staple papers; do not submit papers
with clips, binders, or report covers. Please number all pages.

Papers must include a bibliography and proper citations, with
a minimum of 10 references cited including at least two conference
or journal publications. While Wikipedia and similar sources might be
used for background information, it is expected that students will
find more authoritative sources for information
and cite these sources rather than citing Wikipedia. The
Chicago/Turabian reference list style should be used for the
bibliography and citations (students may use an alternative style
only with permission of the instructors).

Papers should be
well structured with appropriate headings throughout, and include conclusions that are
well supported by the rest of the paper. Remember this is
a research paper, not an opinion essay. All assertions need
to be supported with citations to relevant literature. You should
cite ideas, not just direct quotes. Headings should be used to
structure the paper. A "roadmap" at the end of the introduction is
highly recommended.

Papers should be spell checked and proof read. Make sure you
properly punctuate quotations and citations. (Punctuation goes
inside quotation marks. Citations go outside quotation marks, but
before the period at the end of the sentence.) Avoid opinionated
language and phrases like "obviously" and "it is obvious." Try to
use "which" and "that" correctly.

Students are welcome to submit
rough drafts of their papers (or sections of their papers) for
feedback prior to the final paper deadline. Students are also
encouraged to form small groups and exchange draft papers among
group members for additional feedback.